Quilts for Sale

November 2, 2017

Dear Diary Showcase

Hello and happy Friday to you! I am excited to share with you my project for Minki Kim's first line for Riley Blake called Dear Diary.

I made a baby quilt featuring a panel of Minki's adorable drawings in the middle, with rows of squares on point. I do not have a pattern ready for it at this time, but I will show you how I do the big stitch hand quilting in a minute! If you stick around to the end there's a giveaway too.

There are several things I love about this fabric range. The first is the heart and soul evident in its making. Minki's love for life and beautiful artistry are so inspiring to me! In sewing with her fabric, I feel like I was able to get to know her better, and the happy, talented lady that she is. Look at these cute little sketches, with the phrases "Stay True" and "Shine Your Light". So uplifting!

Another thing I love about this line is the shade of pink it uses. It's absolutely perfect- warm and not too pale, and just dreamy. The dark blue is another favorite shade.

I also really enjoyed the text prints, which come in 3 colors. They have little punches of bold lettering in contrasting colors with words like "respect", "trust", and "honesty". What great little messages of love and life lessons to add to a baby quilt.

I'll show you briefly how I like to add hand quilting to my projects. First, I always machine quilt it. I like the layers of interest you get when you mix the two, plus then it's already well basted for you. In this case I did not quilt it myself, it was done on a longarm by Starlit Quilts, my go to gal! The design is called Abacus and I just love it on this quilt. Star is such a sweetheart and even sewed pieces of fabric from her stash on the sides when the backing I sent wasn't quite big enough. What a trooper! Thank you Star!

Now for the tutorial. As with anything, I don't think there is one right way to hand quilt, but I'm sharing how I like to do it.

disappearing ink fabric pen to mark 1/4" away from the outer seams. This pen has one end that disappears on its own after time, and one that disappears when you spray with water or dab with a damp cloth. I use both.

long, thicker cotton darning needle with larger eye to help your thick thread get through all those layers

any thick thread like 6 strand embroidery floss
or perle cotton. I got a big rainbow pack and use it all the time.

Tips!
If you're having trouble getting the thick thread into the needle, get
it wet (I put it in my mouth!) and cut a clean end, then pinch it
between your fingers and push the eye of the needle onto it. Stitch along the marked line, with
the actual stitches being larger than the spaces in between. Go through
as many times as your needle length will allow. The more you do in one
swipe, the straighter they will be. I tried to do 6 stitches per side,
though some had 7 and one had 5. It's hand stitching so it won't be
perfect, that's the whole point! Don't worry about the needle going
straight up and down perpendicularly through the layers. Keep it parallel to the quilt
and if it doesn't go all the way through to the backing on every stitch,
that's ok! Sometimes you have to tug a little to pull it through.

My ends are knotted twice and sewn into the binding on both sides of the quilt. I know there's a way to hide ends in the middle, but I'm not that tricky yet! Pretty sure it involves magic :) And for the record, the back side of my hand stitching always looks much different, and quite frankly much worse, than the front. I usually try to pick very busy backings when I do this, or stick to pillows where it won't be seen.

Beautiful Quilt............I never would have thought to use hand quilting with machine quilting. I love the machine and hand quilting you have done. I love the way you used the panel. Thanks for sharing all your tips on this quilt. It is a darling quilt.

I absolutely love this fabric, and your quilt is perfect for the prints to show off Minki's adorable panel of her drawings. Thanks for sharing your tips on hand stitching quilts. I like to do this also, just a small bit to add a little extra love as I create a quilt for a special person.

How adorable is this? Even I could pull this off. The sweet panel used in the middle is just what a baby blanket should come from. Light and love. I love the simple color scheme Nd the innocence of the pattern.